Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-03-11
TIGERS IN CHINA
The Terrible scou,yc of the Canton" H'
<o,u,,u-F Sur of the Tnhnbitdnfs.

The Terrible scOu'yc OF tHe o""''" ~
eoumtry-Frar of the Inhab'ta""'
For a long time I was disposed to
treat their tiger stories with ridicule'
and still think that many OF them are
greatly exaggerated; but from the mass
of testimony I have received from per-
sons directly connected with the scenes
described 1 have come to believe that
tigers are a great scourge to the hill
country in Canton, says the author OF
"Interior Views of Southern China.
Within q few years, in the vicinity OF
the market town of Lak-Chook, more
than q score of people are said to have
been killed by them. The most fire.
quent victims are wood-gatherers, who
90 off alone to the hills for firewood.
Two years ago one was encountered
near a village in this region, and sur
rounded by thirty men, who attacked
him with various weapons. He wa
shot in the mouth and his teeth broken,
but this did not prevent his killing two
men and seriously %wounding two others
before he was finally dispatched. One
year before the following Genes occur
red in a village adjacent. In the even
ing a and her daughter-in-law
we're at work in their house when sud-
denly q tiger appeared, caught up the
mother-in-law, who was nearest the
door, and made off up the hill. The
daughter-in-law raised the alarm, but
the neighbors, frightened for them
selves, only shut their doors more
closely, lest he should attack them.
Early next morning six men, relatives
of the woman who had been carried off,
went in search. Owing to a slight rain
that had fallen the previous day the
tiger was easily traced. He had gone
up the mill and thrown the body over a
steep precipice into a deep ravine.
There it was half eaten. The son, as
filia] duty required, must get it at all
risks. With difficulty he descended and
fastened a rope about it, so that it could
be drawn up. They then buried the
body and went home. In the evening
the tiger returned to the village, but all
the people were then safely locked in
their houses. He roared, so the people
said, until the earth shook, but could
not get at his prey. This account, with
the names of the parties concerned,
was given me in a manner that leaves
no doubt of its truth. In this particu-
lar neighborhood the number of pigs
and cattle carried off is very great.
From all accounts it would appear that
the number Of people annually carried
off by tigers in the Canton hill country
may be reckoned in scores, and of cattle,
pigs, and other domestic animals in
hundreds. "Why do not the people
destroy them?" is the question often
asked. Because they have no efficient
means. Their arms are poor, their aim
uncertain, and superstition keeps them
in such dread Of the beasts that it is
only when forced in actual self-defense
that they will attack them. Near LAX
Chook, the town referred to, a few
years ago the ravages of these kings
among the beasts wero SO great that
the people determined to call in super
natural help, and SO held a sacriticial
feast, called Ta-tee-tsin, "an offering to
heaven" for deliverance from the
scourge of tigers. The performances
kept up for several days, and their eff
cacy may be inferred from the fact that
while the services were going on a
tiger came into the village where they
were held and carried off a pig. The
affair in which the two men were killed
occurred afterward near the same
place.